System restarts when playing an online game...

[DCEE]

My system either stops the game (counterstrike) entirely as if i just quit out of it or restarts the system. I would assume its the cpu maybe the video overheating? tech support for my comp doesnt seem to have any idea(big suprise) im running 2000 pro amd athlon xp 1700
nvidia g3 i have dl the most recent drivers for the video card is there anything else i should do?

 

[jpm121]

Yep, heat is a good place to look for things like that if your drivers are 100% updated (this can include system BIOS as well). Did you PC come with any sensor software? Otherwise it's off to search the net for some freeware utils.

 

[BChumie]

If you are running a VIA chipset with that athlon go into the BIOS and turn the AGP speed down to 2x as opposed to 4x. For some reason I have always had problems with games when my video card (Geforce3) is set to 4x on my athlon system. Just a thought.

Brad

 

[Thelemac]

If you don't have any case fans, I would suggest sticking a couple in there. Definately sounds like heat to me.

 

[crisc]

90% of the time, spontanious system restarts are caused by overheating or underpowering. (OK I just made up the 90%, but it's a high percentage!) If you determine you are adequately cooled, you may want to get try upgrading to 300 (or more) watt PS. If you are going to be adding a bunch of fans, you may want to anyway.

 

[DCEE]

i got a total of 3 case fans plus the power supply (350 watts)
definitely sounds like a heating issue from what u guys are telling me should i invest in a cpu cooler or is it the video card? i checked the pc health it says 120 sometimes 123 i know its not accurate cause the system has time to cool down i dl motherboard monitor but i cant figure out how to use it. anyone know what the temp should be for an amd xp 1700?

 

[BChumie]

What motherboard are you using? If it is an asus then those temps sound about right (a little on the high side but nothing that should affect game playing) if you are getting a reading on the asus probe utility. (I am assuming you are talking in terms of Fahrenheit). I read right around 47-49 degress C on my ASUS motherboard and I am able to play all my games (Counter Strike, Grand Theft Auto 3, etc...)

You might want to make sure there is atleast one slot open beneath your video card. That might be the thing that is overheating.

Brad

 

[Tbarney]

OK,
I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents worth because I have built more than a dozen systems for friends who are gamers... or wana bees..hehe. Never had any issues with GF3 + 4x agp with most motherboards. Anyway sounds like you have enough fans and a good power supply. I'm gonna assume you do.
#1) make sure the fans close to the bottom are pulling air in and close to the top pushing air out. Seems simple but 4 fans around the case all pushing air in accomplish nothing!!! You gotta have circulation.
#2 Make sure you have a decent CPU heatsink and fan. You're not usuing the stock cooler are you? Get to Hardocp.com look at thier cooler reviews, and get one of the good ones. Come on its like 30 bucks...
#3 I have seen your exact same problem on a machine which had TOO MUCH thermal paste between the cpu and cooler. It works fine for a few minutes and finally the paste can't pass the heat to the heatsink fast enough, the cpu counters this by slowing down like it's supoosed to and finally.. too much heat.

Good luck..